The Perfect Rad Storm
Lets face it, you love Fallout, your friends love Fallout, and us here at Mango Strike love Fallout too. Don’t lie to yourself, you know The Wanderer has been stuck in your head since the first trailer for the game was released. Fallout 4 Far Harbor continues the amazing quests and vats filled fights that made the main game so much fun. The second of the three “quest” based Fallout 4 dlcs scheduled for the game, Far Harbor is the biggest expansion Bethesda studios has ever created. A quest triggered by the Valentine Detective Agency brings you to Far Harbor, an island off the coast of Maine that is jam packed with new characters to interact with, creatures to fight, weapons to use, gear to wear, and you guessed it, rads to soak up. So pack your stimpacks, stock up on ammo, and kiss Codsworth goodbye, its time to crack open an ice cold nuke cola and enjoy a nice relaxing boat ride to scenic Far Harbor.
*Possible Spoilers Ahead*
Story
The main quest for Far Harbor continues the games theme of having to find a missing child, while also being immediately drawn into the classic Fallout style fight for survival that the series loves to throw at the player. This time in the form of helping the citizens of Far Harbor fight against a horde of the mutated scourge of the island. After the fight is over, the player is filled in about the history and current status of Far Harbor, including information on the three factions based on the island: the citizens of Far Harbor, the Children of Atom followers, and the synth refugees. The citizens of Far Harbor and the Children of Atom followers are both at odds with each other, with tensions high on both sides, while the synth refugees are just trying to live in a place free from the persecution of humans and without the constant fear of being hunted down by the Institute. This does not stop various characters in the dlc from not trusting the synth refugees, much like in the main game, and the 1960s era fear of Communist sleeper cell agents that the game has seemingly alluded the idea of the synths too, remains strong.
The player learns that the missing girl has fled to Acadia, the synth refuge, and the player must enlist the help of Old Longfellow, the newest companion in the game. Old Longfellow is the best hunter on the island, and the most knowledgeable guide on how to navigate through “the fog.” The fog is a radioactive nuisance that had been plaguing the citizens of Far Harbor for decades, but has recently become more prevalent and deadly. Old Longfellow isn’t the most interesting character in the game, and doesn’t have a whole lotta backstory or complicated hidden quest line I would have liked to see, but rather has similarities to a Clint from Jaws type character. Old Longfellow is rugged, drinks a lot, and has a classic fish story about the one that got away.
Once the player arrives at Acadia, he or she is meets Dima, A first generation synth who is the leader of Acadia. You will notice how similar Dima looks to Nick Valentine, and without giving much away, it is strongly encouraged that the player bring Nick Valentine with them to Far Harbor…
Long story short, Dima entrusts the player to embark on a mission regarding something located inside the Children of Atom’s base of operations. Jumping ahead, Fallout decides to throw a curve ball at the player in the form of a puzzle based sequence inside a virtual world, something similar to what one would see in games such as Portal. The main idea of this sequence is to make sure laser beams are directed and redirected to trigger gateways to open, and using building blocks t0 do so. The whole thing felt like I was playing Minecraft, and although I like the idea of trying something different in a Fallout game, the sequence took way too long and the difficulty significantly increased between each individual puzzle. During the last part of the sequence, I embarrassingly admit having to resort to youTubing how to actually complete the puzzle after hours of trying and failing to see the solution. I see what the game developers were trying to accomplish with the puzzle sequence, but the difficulty spike increase just felt unnecessary and by the end the I was so sick of being in that virtual world it made me never want to replay that sequence again.
The various endings Far Harbor has to offer are chock full of morally bankrupt decisions while ultimately deciding the fate of the island, with a large amount of finessing needing to be done if you want the best possible ending. The main story is just a small portion of the quests and content the island has to offer, and before you know it you will be immersed with interesting side quest after side quest.
Verdict
New weapons such as the harpoon gun, meat hook, lever-action rifle, and even a bowling ball gun, all add their own destructive flare to the player’s ever growing arsenal. New creatures such as anglers, gulpers, giant fog crawlers, hermit crabs, and blood rage mirelurks, an even deadlier version of their Commonwealth cousins, all make for epic fights for the player to engage in.
The content Far Harbor has packs a perfect blend of classic Fallout action, adventure, and storytelling, which all in all makes for an amazing experience. The only complaints I have about the dlc are a disinteresting companion, and the long difficult puzzle sequence, but those are a small hiccup in an otherwise flawless expansion pack for Fallout 4. I give this dlc a 4.5/5, and the many hours you will be putting into Far Harbor will be well worth your time and money spent on the expansion pack.
